“We always hurt for priestesses,” he said. “If you’re willing, you’re able.”

Priestesses. Persis returned the handshake, making sure he felt the muscle in her grip. “Call me Persis.”

Her first battle came only two days later. A gang of straggling Demons fell on them, rising from hills of mulch. The company had no choice but to stop and stand their ground. The creatures were all quickly dead, but one Demon slipped past the young, nervous man who chopped at it and slithered straight for Persis. Slinging free the axe she’d brought, Persis bashed its head in two halves.

It was a decisive kill. The men all milled into a circle around Persis and the one stunned soldier. The leader who’d welcomed her shoved his way through.

“Priestess,” he warned her, waiting for the creature to spawn again teeth-first. “That’s not your job, is it?”

But Persis stayed impassive. The Demon at her feet stayed dead.

“I’m able,” she said stoutly.

The company was exhausted. They looked at each other, and at the ash piles gathering around them. The leader gazed at Persis for a while. He bit his knuckle.

“Cut your hair,” he said finally.

-The Stars Went Out

More Persis! I’m not sure yet what I want to do with the backstory vignettes for this story’s pacing. I can’t decide if I like them better to introduce a character, to be withheld an then revealed later, or to be revealed right away but in pieces. This one is part of a longer bit I already have set in the narrative, but I’m sitting on a lot of confused bits. Argh.